[From
Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization>
accessed 10.9.06.]
What to capitalize
Capitalization custom varies with
language. The full rules of capitalization for English are complicated. The
rules have also changed over time, generally to capitalize fewer terms; to the
modern reader, an 18th century document seems to use initial capitals
excessively. It is an important function of English style guides to describe
the complete current rules, although there is some variation from one guide to
another.
Pronouns
- In English, the nominative form of the
singular first-person pronoun, I, is capitalized, along with all
its contractions (I'll, I'm, etc).
- Many European languages capitalize nouns and
pronouns used to refer to God: Hallowed be Thy
name. Some English authors capitalize any word referring to God: the
Lamb, the Almighty.
- Some languages capitalize the formal
second-person pronoun. German Sie is
capitalized along with all its declensions (Ihre,
Ihres, etc.), and before the spelling
reform, the informal pronoun Du (you) (and its derivatives, such as
Dein) was also always capitalized in
letters. Italian also capitalizes its formal pronouns, Lei and Loro, and their cases (even within words, eg arrivederLa
"good bye", formal). This is occasionally likewise done for the Dutch U. In Spanish, the
abbreviation of the pronoun usted, Ud. or Vd., is usually written with a capital.
Similarly, in Russian the formal second-person pronoun Вы
with its cases Ваш, Вашего etc. is
capitalized, but only when addressing someone personally (usually in
personal correspondence).
- In Danish, the plural second-person pronoun, I,
is capitalized, but its other forms jer
and jeres are not. This distinguishes it
from the preposition i ("in").
- In formally written Polish (the same rules
apply also in Czech and Slovak), most notably in letters and e-mails, all
pronouns referring to the addressee are capitalized. This includes not
only ty (you) and all its
declensions (twój, ciebie
etc.), but also any plural pronouns encompassing the addressee, such as wy (plural you), including declensions.
This principle extends to nouns used in formal third person (when used to
address the letter addressee), such as Pan (sir) and Pani (madame) [citation needed].
Nouns
- In German, all nouns are capitalized. This
was also the practice in Danish before a spelling reform in 1948. It was
also done in 18th Century English (as with Gulliver's Travels).
- In nearly all European languages, single-word
proper nouns (including personal names) are capitalized, e.g., France,
Moses. Multiple-word proper nouns usually follow rules like the
traditional English rules for publication titles (see below), e.g., Robert
the Bruce.
- Where placenames
are preceded by the definite article, this is usually lowercased, as in the
Sudan, the Philippines.
- Sometimes the article is integral to the
name, and so capitalized, as in Den Haag, Le Havre. However, in French
this does not occur for contractions du and au, as in
"Je viens du
Havre" ["I come from Le
Havre"].
- A few English names may be written with two
lowercase f's: ffrench,
ffoulkes, etc. This ff fossilizes an
older misreading of a blackletter uppercase F.
- Some individuals choose not to use capitals
with their names, such as k.d. lang or bell hooks. E. E.
Cummings, whose name is often spelt without capitals, did not spell his
name so; the usage derives from the typography used on the cover of one
of his books.[citation needed]
- Most brand names and trademarks are
capitalized (e.g., Coca-Cola, Pepsi) although some have chosen to deviate
from standard rules (e.g., easyJet, id Software,
eBay, iPod) to be distinctive.
- In English, the names of days of the week, months
and languages are capitalized, as are demonyms
like Englishman, Arab. In other languages, practice varies[1].
- Capitalization is always used for most names
of taxa used in scientific classification of living
things, except for species-level taxa or below.
Example: Homo sapiens sapiens.
- A more controversial practice followed by
some authors, though few if any style guides, treats the common names of
some animal and plant species as proper nouns, and uses initial majuscules
for them (e.g., Peregrine Falcon, Red Pine), while not
capitalizing others (e.g., horse or person). This is most
common for birds and fishes. Botanists generally reject the practice of
capitalizing the common names of plants, though individual words of plant
names may be capitalized by another rule (e.g., Italian stone pine).
See the discussion of official common names under common name for an
explanation.
- Common nouns may be capitalized when used as
names for the entire class of such things, e.g. what a piece of work is
Man. French often capitalizes such nouns as l'État
(the state) and l'Église (the church)
when not referring to specific ones.
- The names of gods are capitalized, including Allah,
Vishnu, and God. The word god is generally not
capitalized if it is used to refer to the generic idea of a deity, nor is
it capitalized when it refers to multiple gods, e.g., Roman gods.
There may be some confusion because the Judeo-Christian god is not
referred to by a specific name, but simply as God. Other names for
the Judeo-Christian god, such as Elohim
and Lord, are also capitalized.
- While acronyms have historically been written
in all-caps, modern usage is moving towards capitalization in some cases
(as well as proper nouns like Unesco, there are
other examples such as Aids).
Adjectives
- In English, adjectives derived from proper
nouns (except the names of characters in fictional works) usually retain
their capitalization – e.g. a Christian church, Canadian
whisky, a Shakespearian sonnet, but a quixotic mission, a chauvinist
pig, and malapropism, holmesian
and pecksniffian. Where the original
capital is no longer at the beginning of the word, usage varies: anti-Christian,
but Presocratic or Pre-Socratic or
presocratic (not preSocratic)
- Such adjectives do not receive capitals in
German (sokratisch, präsokratisch),
French (socratique, présocratique)
or Polish (sokratejski, presokratejski).
- Adjectives referring to nationality or
ethnicity are not capitalized in French, even though nouns are: un navire canadien, a Canadian ship; un Canadien, a Canadian. Both nouns and adjectives
are capitalized in English.
Others
Other uses of capitalization
include:
- In most modern languages, the first word in a
sentence is capitalized, as is the first word in any quoted sentence.
- In Latin and Ancient Greek they are not.
- For some terms a capital as first letter is
avoided by avoiding their use at the beginning of a sentence, or by
writing it in lowercase even at the beginning of a sentence. E.g., pH
looks unfamiliar written PH, and m and M may even
have different meanings, milli and mega.
- In Dutch, ’t,
d’, or ’s in names or sayings are never capitalized, even
at the start of sentences. (See Compound names below).
- Most English honorifics and titles of
persons, e.g. Doctor Watson, Mrs
Jones, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.
- This does not apply where the words are not
titles; e.g. Watson is a doctor, Philip is a duke.
- Traditionally, the first word of each line in
a piece of verse, e.g.:
Meanwhile the winged Heralds, by command
Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim
A solemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers. […] (Milton, Paradise Lost I:752–756)
- Modern poets often ignore or defy this
convention.
- The English vocative particle O, an
archaic form of address, e.g. Thou, O king, art a king of kings.
In English, there even are few
words whose meaning (and, sometimes, pronunciation) varies with capitalization.
See: List of case sensitive English words.